


Foundling

by JordannaMorgan



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003)
Genre: Chimeras, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-12
Updated: 2011-07-12
Packaged: 2017-10-21 07:30:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/222506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JordannaMorgan/pseuds/JordannaMorgan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Al latches onto something even more problematic than a kitten.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Foundling

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Foundling  
> Author: Jordanna Morgan  
> Archive Rights: Please request the author’s consent.  
> Rating/Warnings: Slightly PG for suggestions of dead things.  
> Characters: Alphonse and a strange critter.  
> Setting: General.  
> Summary: Al latches onto something even more problematic than a kitten.  
> Disclaimer: They belong to Hiromu Arakawa. I’m just playing with them.  
> Notes: I wrote this over a year ago, and it actually won a third place award at FMA Fic Contest on LiveJournal. I had thoughts at the time of expanding it into something more, but I don’t see it going anywhere at this point, so it might as well stand on its own.

According to Ed, roasted chimeras really did smell like chicken… and for once, Al was glad to have no nose.

Ruefully he surveyed the charred, hacked remains of a freakish menagerie, destroyed as their creator’s attack dogs. The State Alchemists were now to catalogue and study that rogue alchemist’s work—a prospect Al hated. No one should want to learn how such wretched creatures were made.

From the corner of his vision, he saw movement half-hidden behind a crate, and cautiously bent to investigate. Another chimera lay dead… but something wriggled under its chin.

Then a little head popped up between the chimera’s huge paws.

It was the ugliest thing Al had ever seen. Beaky jaws and bulging eyes weighed down the head on its scrawny neck, and its body was covered with a spiny gray coat like pinfeathers. It resembled a newborn bird with a wingless, four-legged animal body.

Hesitantly, Al petted its head with one finger. It croaked—and the beak clamped down on his leather fingertip.

Rarely had he felt a deeper longing to cry.

Chimeras made from such disparate animals weren’t supposed to be able to breed. If scientists saw this proof that they could, it would be taken away to a laboratory.

_Just like I would, if they knew the way I am._

_…Over my broken blood seal._

Al gently picked up the orphan chimera, glancing over his shoulder. Ed and Colonel Mustang were arguing, oblivious.

He unfastened his chestplate, and slipped his foundling inside.

* * *

_© 2010 Jordanna Morgan_


End file.
